Spring-connecting means for belts ob



Oct. 23, 1928. 1,688,962

J. P. GORDON SPRING CONNECTING MEANS FOR BELTS OR STRAPS Filed Feb. 26, 1923 1! W 8 19 1.9 .anmuuumuu; ,7 1111111? 7 .1

Jay 5 L7 5 Patented Oct. 23, 1928.

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JOSEPH P. GORDON, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

SPRING-CONNECTING MEANS FOR BELTS OR STRAPS.

Application filed February 26, 1923.

This invention relates to belts for supporting wearing apparel at the waistline; and the primary object is to provide a health-promoting belt of this character. That is, I have aimed to. provide a belt so constructed as to permit and encourage normal abdominal expansion during respiration, thereby stimulating blood circulation. I have further provided a belt which by reason of its capacity for expansion during respiration serves to strengthen the abdominal muscles, and which while properly supporting the apparel does not have an injurious binding effect on the internal organs.

Another object is to provide a belt of the character described having one or more expansion spring elements, one of which may be applied in the form of a. buckle or as an independent element at apoint between the ends of the belt strap. In practice, these intermediate spring elements may be positioned either at the back or at the sides of the belt.

I have also aimed to provide improved spring elements for a belt of this kind which may be constructed at a comparatively low cost and will be thoroughly practical and satisfactory.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a belt embodying my invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are top and rear views, respectively, of the intermediate expansion spring employed in this belt; and

Figs. 1 and 5 are top and front views, respectively, of the expansion spring buckle employed in the belt.

My invention contemplates primarily, the provision of an. improved expansion spring buckle especially constructed and adapted for connecting the ends of a belt and permitting the desired expansion during normal respiration.

This spring buckle in its preferred form,

best shown on Figs. 4 and 5, comprises a single piece of spring wire wound to provide a relatively flat coil 6, which conforms to and is adapted to snugly receive the ends 7 of the belt strap to be buckled. The coils in the normal position are in abutting relation and are adapted to expand lengthwise under tension by pull on the opposite ends. One end 8 of this wire is looped to provide an eye for attachment to the end 9 of the belt strap. The opposite end 11 is shaped to provide a Serial No. 621,275.

hook 12 adapted to enter any of the holes 13 in said end 7 of the strap. It will be observed that both ends 8 and 11 emanate from the spring in the plane of the flat inner side thereof so as not to interfere with passage of the strap end 7 through the spring. The looped end 8 of the spring may be fastened to the end 9 of the strap by any suitable means, and at present I have shown a metal clip 14 looped through the eye 8 and clinched onto the strap. Said looped end 8 is bent inwardly from the inner side of the spring as plainly shown on Fig. i, so as to position the end 9 of the strap inwardly from the end 7, thus positioning both strap ends in separate planes, so that the end 9 does not interfere with free passage of the end 7 through the spring. A suitable loop 15 may be used for holding the loose end 7 of the strap in position. I have now provided on the end of the hook 12, an enlarged tip or head for the purpose of retaining the hook in engagement with the belt strap when in the buckled position. This head 10 may be of any appropriate size and shape, and at the present is formed by upsetting the end of the wire. The hooked end 12 in combination with the head 10, turned outwardly so as to pass through a hole 13 in the belt strap positioned in the coil 6, serves to effectually hold such strap against displacement, and at the same time permit of easy connection and disengagement as when buckling and unbuokling the belt. From the foregoing, it will be manifest that with the ends of the belt buckled in the manner shown on Fig. 1, the belt may be expanded by reason of the interposition of the coil spring between said belt ends, and that the end 7 may be unbuckled at will, simply by drawing said belt ends slightly together to relieve the tension from the spring and pressing inwardly on the end of the coil adjacent to the hook 12 for the purpose of withdrawing said hook from the hole 13 in which it is engaged, thereby allowing the belt end 7 to be withdrawn freely from the spring. By reversal of this operation, the belt may obviously be buckled.

As a further aid to belt expansion, my in vention contemplates the provision of one or more intermediate expansion springs, such for example as the spring 16 interposed in the rear of the belt strap. This spring as in the case of the spring buckle 6, is formed of a single piece of wire wound in a flat coil, but in this instance I have looped both of the ends 17 to provide eyes for attachment to the sep arated intermediate ends of the strap. These loops 1'? as plainly shown in Fig. 2, are disposed in the plane of the fiat inner side of the spring so as to position the major body of said spring at the outer side of the inner line of the belt, thus giving a smooth interior belt surface for comfort of the wearer. In this and in the previous instance, I have preferred to attach the looped ends 17 to the strap ends by means oil? metal clips 18. The ends 19 of the loops 1?, I have bent outwardly beyond the plane of said loops, as shown on Fig. 2, and then into the coil, so that such ends terminate substantially within the coil and are held and encased thereby. This construction prevents the ends 19 from catching or interfering with the clothes or the body.

A belt of the character described need not be worn tightly in order to prevent the apparel from sagging. Instead, the spring buckle by reason of its capacity for expansion allows the belt to be snugly but not too tightly fastened. Furthermore, this capacity to expand during and by normal respiration is a direct factor in strengthening the abdominal muscles and improving the circulation which otherwise would be impaired by a tight inexpansible belt.

it is believed that the foregoing conveys a clear understanding of the objects prefaced above, and while I have illustrated but a single working embodiment, it should be understood that changes might be made in the construction and arrangen'ient without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim, in which- I claim:

A spring connection for a belt or strap com prising a single piece of spring wire wound to provide a flat coil the convolutions of which are normally in approximately abutting relation, each end portion of the wire being looped to provide an eye for the reception of an end of the belt, each loop being of the same shape as and parallel with the convolutions of the spring and disposed in the plane oi the flat inner side thereof so as to position the major portion of the spring body at the outer side oi the inner line of the belt, and the end of each loop being bent to terminate Within the adjacent coils.

JOSEPH P. GORDON. 

